The Nature of the Beast
by Hardcore Heathen
Summary: The story of the Kyuubi's fall, betrayal, and sealing.


Kyuubi no Youko gazed down at the world from its white, craggy perch, nine tails lashing with barely contained frustration at the stars surrounding it. It was bored, and the humans had still not recovered enough from the last Scourging to be entertaining enough to fight, the other tailed beasts were dormant, and the gods were too busy with their own battles to walk the earth with the fox as they had done long ago.

The Scourging - billions of humans killed at the behest of the gods...it had been the most fun the kitsune could remember. But the days of old were gone, the worthy opponents of the world dead or in hiding, and even the humans, who bred like rats, had yet to recover, even after a dozen centuries. The Kyuubi glared down at the so-called "hidden" shinobi villages from its celestial seat. There the humans had begun to recover, slowly reassembling the shards of their former glory and power, forming new ones in the process.

Long before the great demon had survived its first millennium and drank enough of its fellow's blood to gain the ninth tail, it had spent time among the old human cities. Several of the more ancient peoples, after catching a glimpse of its true form, had revered it as a god, but the Kyuubi had discouraged such fools. It was no god, and the true gods took offense at imposters. It would know; its predecessor had been one such imposter. But, in the days where open battle between the supreme beings had been taboo, the only thing to play with had been humans.

Rising to all fours, the Kyuubi picked one of the "hidden" villages at random. So be it. If the days of battle had disappeared, then it would return to the days of infiltration and trickery. Humans were so easily fooled, and the people of the forested village it had set its sights on would be no exception. Forming a cocoon around itself with its tails, the great fox flared its chakra. The stars faded, fell away, and became distant.

A beautiful woman with long, red hair, walked into Konoha, recently at peace with Iwa and the rest of the shinobi world.

* * *

It had been so easy to fool the village's leader, the "Yondaime Hokage" or some such overly pretentious human title. Hmmm. Fire Shadow - it would have to consider stealing that name. The Kyuubi remembered its days as a two-tailed prankster, and inevitably the most amusing pranks were the seduction of men of power. So sure of themselves, so respected, so revered...! Then it was found that they consorted with demons, their respect and admiration destroyed. Highly amusing. 

The Kyuubi looked over its cup of ramen at the man. He was waving his arms and laughing, obviously telling some sort of joke. The fox laughed - not at the joke, but because the man didn't understand. His fate had been sealed. Kyuubi's boredom would take this a step further.

* * *

Kyuubi stared at the two new humans its target had introduced it to. The man was a white-haired, tattooed pervert. Kyuubi hadn't heard anything about him, but it could tell. Non-perverts don't smell of women's perfume, carry a telescope, and insist that a beautiful member of the opposite sex should visit a certain onsen the moment they met after all...even if the Kyuubi wasn't of the opposite sex, or even the same sex. It is the intent that matters. 

The other was a blonde woman with rather enormous breasts, a diamond-shaped chakra gem in the center of her forehead, and most importantly, a necklace that the Kyuubi could feel sapping its strength, even though the fox was more than a half dozen feet from the item.

But it would endure even the presence of the accursed gem to maintain its charade. It would do its best to make the both of them respect it and like it, for they held great sway over the fox's target. It would not do for all its effort to go to waste.

The Kyuubi refused to admit that it found the old pervert's feeble attempts at humor and the gem-woman's reaction to them hilarious. That would be...unthinkable. Human-like. But the Kyuubi had to admit...perhaps some parts of humans were not so loathsome.

Humans were intriguing, and the fox was only beginning to discover just how much it had forgotten over the years, or had never known. They were like a well crafted puzzle; solve one facet and six more appear, demanding attention. Yet another source of amusement from the creatures, and this one entirely unexpected. It would have to consider continuing to play with these puzzles, for it enjoyed a challenge. When one has achieved ultimate power, there is nothing left do with it but measure it against the rest of the world after all.

* * *

The fox looked down at the face of its unconscious "lover." Fool. It never ceased to amuse and confuse the Kyuubi that the humans trusted it, although they'd never seen or even heard of its supposed origins in the "Land of the Whirlpool." Why would they trust it? The Kyuubi trusted none, nor did any other of its kind. The closest word to "trust" in the demonic tongue would be best translated as "weakness" or "false hope" in the human language. The very concept had taken it months to fully understand. 

It had not taken months to understand that being trusted felt...strange. The only thing in its experience the Kyuubi could liken it to was the blind faith it had had in its parents, before it had grown cunning and learned the way of its kind. Before it had killed them.

So why did these humans continue to trust? It would merely result in the betrayal of that trust, and the Kyuubi could not stand traitors and oathbreakers. Kitsune never give their word, but nonetheless they had an intrinsic respect for the power of the spoken oath. Humans had no such nature; oaths were broken, trusts betrayed. Could they not see that? That their trust...was hopeless? Their trust in the Kyuubi was only one such example - it had planned on destroying them from the beginning. And it would do so.

Eventually.

* * *

The Kyuubi thought back. This deception had been going on for a half dozen years now. When had that happened? Bah, it had merely been more bored than it thought. That was all. 

The man, Minato, had woken up early, to prepare a meal, just for the "woman" he loved. The Kyuubi felt...something, which was unusual in and of itself. Even more unusual was that it did not enjoy the sensation, whatever it was. Anger, hatred, amusement, lust the Kyuubi understood, enjoyed, sought out. Anything else was just beyond the scope of its comprehension.

Why should it feel bad that the man kissed it on the top of the head and told it "I love you" after all?

* * *

The Kyuubi was angry at itself. It had thought far too much about the past seven years; about how, if viewed a certain way, the fox _owed_ Minato. It had come far further along with the fascinating, endlessly dimensioned puzzle that was humanity; hell, had even realized it _existed_, because of him. Something about the man...reminded the fox of what kitsune were supposed to be. Cunning, loyal, and intelligent. If he could be that way, why not the rest of humanity? And thus the puzzle, rapidly growing, had been given to the kitsune. 

He had mentioned something, just one thing, that he wanted, and even then he had done so only once. Minato had spoken, wistfully, of how he had always wanted a son. Grinding its teeth in a thoroughly human gesture, the Kyuubi resolved to itself. It would grant the man's wish. It had been done before, and it would make them even. It really wasn't fair that the man would never know that "she" was the Kyuubi, but that path had been closed.

All thoughts of revealing itself had been banished the moment, in its curiosity, the Kyuubi had sworn, "till death do us part." To the fox, that meant exactly that - it would support the man, the man would support it, and when he died, the Kyuubi would take its leave.

The fox considered staying longer, as it felt _another_ unknown sensation when it saw the man's face after it had told the man that it was "pregnant." This one, unlike the other, did not feel bad. It felt...far from bad. Good. What it was, the Kyuubi did not know, but it enjoyed the sensation. It would have to have it more often.

* * *

Nine months had passed. The female form the Kyuubi took was by no means that of a normal human, although it was close enough to fool even the gem-lady. It felt no pain, as human women supposedly did. The boy, and the Kyuubi knew it would be male, would be far more like his father than his "mother." The form was not, after all, that of a real human. The material for the boy's body would come solely from Minato, although the Kyuubi would, as traditional, grant the boy a boon of its chakra. 

The Kyuubi gazed down at the newborn baby, feeling the stirring of yet another unfamiliar feeling. Strange. Normal newborns did not have a full head of hair, did they?

* * *

The Kyuubi stood over the forests of Konoha, tails lashing. It knew not how it had been revealed; perhaps it had been the birth of the child. It mattered not, it had fled, for it knew that the humans loved, respected, and trusted "Uzumaki Kushina" and not "Kyuubi no Youko." 

That did not justify their betrayal of the Kyuubi, for it was one in the same with their Kushina. And betrayal it was, for they had attacked the moment it became apparent that it was not human.

It had sworn oaths to the village, and the village had sworn oaths to it. Mutual protection. Friendship. The Kyuubi could not stand oathbreakers and betrayers.

Letting out a feral roar, it sent its tails sweeping down through the trees at those gathered to attack it. The Kyuubi had been betrayed, and the world would tremble and despair under its wrath once more

* * *

_He_ was here. _He_ had immobilized the Kyuubi, and the fox stared in awe. The man had summoned the God of Death from his self-imposed exile of this plane, a feat not even the Kyuubi could hope to match. The God stared down at the Kyuubi and licked its lips around the tanto blade clenched in its teeth, a spectral arm reaching through Minato and into the Kyuubi. 

But the pain of the cold hand of Death Itself was nothing compared to the look of sadness in Minato's eyes. His final words, even as he sealed the demon that had tricked, deceived, and made a fool of him into the son it had given him, were the same as those that had originally caused the Kyuubi pain so long ago.

"I love you."


End file.
